Environmental & Public Health

Never before have we sprayed so much of a chemical on our food, on our yards, on our children’s playgrounds. So it’s no surprise that Roundup – the world’s most widely used weedkiller – shows up in our bodies. What is perhaps surprising is how easy it is to get it out.

Anna Robuck is doctoral student working with Rainer Lohmann, Ph.D., at the University of Rhode Island SRP Center. For her externship, Robuck will travel to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina to work with Mark Strynar, Ph.D., and James McCord, Ph.D., at the U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development.

While PCR-based diagnostic tests have been used in medicine for decades, they have never been used as they being used now, for broad screening of the general public, with a single positive result accepted as proof of infection without regard to clinical signs or symptoms or epidemiological exposure. Andrew Cohen had the opportunity in the environmental setting—unlike anyone in the medical profession—to observe the disaster that unfolds when these tests are used in this way. His research is now informing medicine, as many scientists who usually have nothing to do with viruses or infectious disease are turning their attention to COVID-19.

For people who live or work close to major roadways, air pollution — particularly ultrafine particles from vehicle exhaust — can pose a serious health threat. In this episode, Christina Fuller, an environmental epidemiologist and assistant professor in the School of Public Health, discusses her research on ultrafine particles in metro Atlanta and the role that trees may play in protecting urban residents.